Opioids reduce pain by decreasing perception of pain, decreasing reaction to pain, and increasing pain tolerance. They have long been used in the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Opioid use may produce side effects such as feelings of euphoria, and, as such, opioids are among the most misused and abused medications. Attempts to create abuse-resistant opioids have been made (e.g., crush-resistant formulations), but skilled illicit chemists have thus far been able to extract the opioids from these formulations.
Therefore there at least remains a need in the art for the availability of new methods and compositions for preventing opioid abuse.